1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sliding mechanism and a mobile terminal suitable to be used for slidably connecting the first case for the transmitting part and the second case for the receiving pat of a mobile terminal such as, in particular, a Cellphone handset.
2. Description of Related Art
Cellphone handsets, a type of mobile terminal, wherein the first case for the transmitting part consisting of a keyboard part and a microphone part and the second case for the receiving part consisting of a display part and a speaker part are superposed in such a manner that the second case cover the first case when they are superposed completely and the second case is allowed to slide along the longitudinal axis of the upper surface of the first case to create an exposed space on the upper surface of the first case are now available on the market with a sliding mechanism. Such a sliding mechanism was published in the Japanese Patent Application Laid Open 2003 125052 and is generally known.
The invention described in this Japanese patent application laid open is constituted by two sliding modules each consisting of a sliding case in which a sliding cover and a locking plate are superposed and fixed and a slider slidably housed on this sliding case are disposed in parallel on the bottom surface of the second case, and two fixing pins are provided in a protruding condition from the slider to be fixed by a screw to the upper surface of the first case.
Such being the construction, since the load of the second case weighs on the sliding case through the slider when the second case is forced to slide to expose the upper surface of the first case, on actual product it is necessary to spot weld at a plurality of points between the lock plate and the sliding cover constituting the sliding case, and in order to maintain strength and to prevent rotations in the horizontal direction during the use of the second case, it is necessary to provide two fixing pins for fixing the slider. This leads to a higher cost and the necessity of a longer sliding case. And there developed an esthetic problem of the sliding case being exposed on the bottom surface of the second case at the time of the slide.